Thursday, September 25, 2008

Concord Grape Freezer Jam

My neighbor invited me to come over and pick grapes from her vines so JP and I picked a large colander worth. It was the perfect amount for five 8oz jars of grape freezer jelly. (Freezer jelly is so easy and doesn't require the typical canning tools/equipment.)
I used the basic freezer jam recipe found on the fruit pectin package made by the Ball company. I have listed a very similar recipe below which suggests some spice additions to add a unique twist to the jam. I will try adding some ginger next time.

Concord grapes have seeds and very sour skins; these should be removed in order to have a more edible jam. So after washing and stemming the grapes I placed them in a stainless steel pot and mashed them with a potato masher. Once I mashed out as much juice as possible I cooked the mixture until it boiled. Then I strained it through a sieve and ended up with 4 cups of juice. I then followed the steps below.
FREEZER JAM RECIPE:
4 cups crushed berries or Concord grapes (for peaches and apricots, use 3 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1.59-ounce package Ball freezer pectin
Optional: lavender/lemon zest for strawberries, cinnamon/ground ginger for peaches and Concord grapes

For berries or stone fruit, mix with sugar, pectin and optional spices in a bowl until well blended. For grapes, heat crushed fruit to a boil in a large saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until skins are tender, 3-5 minutes, then add to pectin/sugar mixture. For all, stir 3 minutes. Ladle into five clean 8-ounce Ball plastic freezer jars to fill line, or any other freezer-safe containers or glass jars if eating within a few weeks. Twist on lids. Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes. Refrigerate for three weeks or freeze up to a year.

5 comments:

newbie said...

Hi Claudia,
I made your concord grape freezer jam yesterday and tried some last night on crackers with pbutter. By the time I got to the third one there was a little bit of juice on the plate.Does that mean it did not set up?Or is that as much as freezer jam does set up? I am new to jam making. Thanks for the help!

Newbie

Unknown said...

Delicious!y perfect! Thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

what happens with the skin and seeds?

Barillafab4.blogspot.com said...

I realized this was posted awhile back but I am looking into making concord jelly for the first time. I have made strawberry & raspberry freezer jam and would LOVE to do grape this year! This is one of the only recipes I have come across you dont have to cook. Just follow basic freezer jam rules?

frogcooke said...

I actually JUST made some freezer grape jelly following the recipe in the Sure Jel pectin package.

Interesting this one calls for 1 1/2c sugar as the Sure Jel recipe called for 2 1/2c yikes. Found that to be a tad sweet for my taste but it set up nicely.

Might have to try the Ball recipe/this recipe and see how it differs.